scholarly journals Changes in Soil Organic Matter Parameters during the Period of 18 Years Under Different Soil Management Practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-154
Author(s):  
Vladimír Šimanský
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Fulvic Acids ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
Average Speed

Abstract Quantity and quality of soil organic matter (SOM) is very important from view point of sustainable agriculture; therefore, during the years 1994–2011, the influence of different soil management practices on changes in SOM parameters in loamy Haplic Luvisol was evaluated in a field experiment in the locality of Dolná Malanta. The field experiment included two types of soil tillage – (1) conventional tillage (CT) and (2) reduced tillage (RT) – and also two treatments of fertilisation – (1) crop residues together with added NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertilisers (CR + NPK) and (2) added NPK fertilisers. Contents of humic substances (HS) and fulvic acids (FA) under RT increased by 1.6% and 4.4%, respectively, compared to CT during the years 1994–2011. On the other hand, contents of humic acids (HA), HA-to-FA ratios, colour quotient of HS and colour quotient of HA under CT increased by 2.0%, 2.5%, 1.8% and 2.3%, respectively, compared to RT. In CT and RT, HS declined at an average speed of 0.33% and 0.53% per year, respectively. In CR + NPK treatments and application, only NPK fertiliser caused a decline of HS at an average speed of 0.52% and 0.33 % per year, respectively. In CT, RT and CR + NPK treatments, the linear trends (statistical significant) in decline of FA were observed. All in all, the CT had a slightly better effect on the quality of SOM, whilst the stability of SOM was improved by RT. Applications of mineral fertilisers along with crop residues resulted in better quality but lower stability of SOM.

A quantitative approach of the slake test for assessing soil structural stabilty

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Vanwindekens ◽  
Brieuc Hardy ◽  
Christian Roisin ◽  
Fabienne Delporte
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Soil Sample ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
No Tillage

<p>Soils are at the heart of agro-ecosystems. In various parts of Europe, soils, their structure and function are under pressure from intensive farming practices and global changes. The main consequences are a loss of biodiversity, a decrease in organic matter content, an increase in their susceptibility to erosion. In this context, some farmers are adopting innovative practices to increase the quality of their soils. Among innovative practices, those related to conservation agriculture are particularly highlighted.</p><p>Conservation Agriculture practices are based on the threefold principles of (i) minimizing mechanical soil disturbance (e.g. no tillage), (ii) permanent soil cover, and (iii) diversification of crop species grown in the plots. These practices are encouraged by the farmers who adopt them and some stakeholders (ASBLs, advisors, etc.). Some related practices raise questions (use of herbicides) and the effects of the practices on the soil are subject to debate within the scientific communities.</p><p>The physical properties of soils are traditionally estimated by a series of laboratory tests that are resource-, time- and money-intensive. We propose to present a new pragmatic approach to assess the functioning and quality of agricultural soils, the 'slake test'. In the development phase, this approach has been tested for contrasting fertilisation and tillage modalities in various long-term trials at the Walloon Agricultural Research Centre (CRA-W).</p><p>A slake test is a simple and visual experiment shown by promoters of conservation agriculture. It consists of immersing a metal basket containing a soil sample and observing how this sample decomposes. It is done qualitatively, in two glass cylinders to compare soil samples from ploughed and no-till plots. Although this test is a quick way to assess the structural stability of a soil, its protocol has not been formalized and its results objectified by a quantitative method. We developed an original approach, the ©QuantiSlakeTest, aimed at continuously measuring the disintegration of the soil sample.</p><p>This original experimental design was first tested by comparing two contrasted treatments of a long term field experiment in Chastres (Belgium). This field experiment was conducted between 2004 and 2018 by the CRA-W for comparing soil management practices. Samples were taken from plots of treatment T (tillage) and treatment NT (no-tillage) in five repetitions (10 plots). In each plot, seven samples were taken in the superficial layer using Kopecky rings. The samples were dried 48 hours at 50°C before being tested. </p><p>The application of ©QuantiSlakeTest highlights significant differences between tilled and non tilled plots. After one minute, the relative residual weight are significantly different between treatments (T: 0.76±0.16, NT: 0.95±0.06, p<0.001). At stabilisation, after 20 min, samples from tilled plots have lost more than 50% of their weight, while those from no-tilled plots have lost less than 30% (T: 0.49±0.32, NT: 0.71±0.22, p<0.001).</p><p>These early results confirm that ©QuantiSlakeTest is a credible approach for assessing the effect of soil management practices on soil stability, in controlled experimental conditions. We are now finetuning the protocol, trying the approach with room temperature dried samples and comparing other modalities (fertilisation, organic matter amendment).</p>

scholarly journals The effects of soil management practices on soil organic matter changes within a productive vineyard in the Nitra viticulture area (Slovakia)

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Vladimír Šimanský ◽  
Nora Polláková
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Farmyard Manure ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Carbon Management ◽  
Lability Index ◽  
Carbon Management Index ◽  
Commercial Vineyard ◽  
Fertiliser Application

Abstract Since understanding soil organic matter (SOM) content and quality is very important, in the present study we evaluated parameters of SOM including: carbon lability (LC), lability index (LI), carbon pool index (CPI) and carbon management index (CMI) in the soil as well as in the water-stable aggregates (WSA) under different soil management practices in a commercial vineyard (established on Rendzic Leptosol in the Nitra viticulture area, Slovakia). Soil samples were taken in spring during the years 2008–2015 from the following treatments: G (grass, control), T (tillage and intensive cultivation), T+FYM (tillage + farmyard manure), G+NPK3 (grass + 3rd intensity of fertilisation for vineyards), and G+NPK1 (grass + 1st intensity of fertilisation for vineyards). The highest LI values in soil were found for the G+NPK3 and T+FYM fertilised treatments and the lowest for the unfertilised intensively tilled treatments. The CPI in the soil increased as follows: T < G+NPK3 < T+FYM < G+NPK1. The highest accumulation of carbon as well as decomposable organic matter occurred in G+NPK1 compared to other fertilised treatments, while intensive tillage caused a decrease. On average, the values of LI in WSA increased in the sequence G+NPK1 < T+FYM < G+NPK3 < T. Our results showed that the greatest SOM vulnerability to degradation was observed in the WSA under T treatment, and the greatest values of CPI in WSA were detected as a result of fertiliser application in 3rd intensity for vineyards and farmyard manure application.

scholarly journals Soil structure after 18 years of long-term different tillage systems and fertilisation in Haplic Luvisol

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 140-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Šimanský Vladimír ◽  
Lukáč Martin
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Structure ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Organic Matter Content ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Soil Tillage ◽  
Arable Soils ◽  
Water Stable Aggregates

Soil structure is a key determinant of many soil environmental processes and is essential for supporting terrestrial ecosystem productivity. Management of arable soils plays a significant role in forming and maintaining their structure. Between 1994 and 2011, we studied the influence of soil tillage and fertilisation regimes on the stability of soil structure of loamy Haplic Luvisol in a replicated long-term field experiment in the Dolná Malanta locality (Slovakia). Soil samples were repeatedly collected from plots exposed to the following treatments: conventional tillage (CT) and minimum tillage (MT) combined with conventional (NPK) and crop residue-enhanced fertilisation (CR+NPK). MT resulted in an increase of critical soil organic matter content (St) by 7% in comparison with CT. Addition of crop residues and NPK fertilisers significantly increased St values (by 7%) in comparison with NPK-only treatments. Soil tillage and fertilisation did not have any significant impact on other parameters of soil structure such as dry sieving mean weight diameters (MWD), mean weight diameter of water-stable aggregates (MWD<sub>WSA</sub>), vulnerability coefficient (Kv), stability index of water-stable aggregates (Sw), index of crusting (Ic), contents of water-stable macro- (WSA<sub>ma</sub>) and micro-aggregates (WSA<sub>mi</sub>). Ic was correlated with organic matter content in all combinations of treatments. Surprisingly, humus quality did not interact with soil management practices to affect soil structure parameters. Higher sums of base cations, CEC and base saturation (Bs) were linked to higher Sw values, however higher values of hydrolytic acidity (Ha) resulted in lower aggregate stability in CT treatments. Higher content of K<sup>+</sup> was responsible for higher values of MWD<sub>WSA </sub>and MWD in CT. In MT, contents of Ca<sup>2+</sup>, Mg<sup>2+ </sup>and Na<sup>+</sup> were significantly correlated with contents of WSA<sub>mi </sub>and WSA<sub>ma</sub>. Higher contents of Na<sup>+</sup> negatively affected St values and positive correlations were detected between Ca<sup>2+</sup>, Mg<sup>2+ </sup>and Na<sup>+</sup> and Ic in NPK treatments.

scholarly journals Sustainability/resilience of soil organic matter components in an Argentinean arid region .

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Vázquez ◽  
Laura Noe ◽  
Adriana Abril ◽  
Carolina Merlo ◽  
Carlos Romero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Humic Substances ◽  
Humic Acids ◽  
Arid Region ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Fulvic Acids ◽  
Soil Sustainability ◽  
Undisturbed Site

This short communication presents a novel approach to determining the soil sustainability of productive practices in an Argentinean arid region, using the resilience degree of soil organic matter components. The study was conducted in four sites of the Arid Chaco region of the Cordoba province: one undisturbed site, two sites with livestock (with total and with selective clearing) and one site with agriculture. In each site three soil samples were taken and total soil organic matter, fulvic and humic acids, and non-humic substances were analyzed. Variations of each component (%) between each productive practice and the undisturbed site were calculated in order to establish the resilience degree. The livestock soils showed: a) moderate resilience for non-humic substances, b) low resilience for organic matter and humic acids, and c) no resilience for fulvic acids. The agricultural soils showed: a) low resilience for total organic matter and non-humic substances, and b) no resilience for fulvic and humic acids. We conclude that this approach is a powerful tool for establishing management practices according to each particular situation, allowing improved productivity in arid regions.

Changes in soil organic carbon and nitrogen after 47 years with different tillage, stubble and fertiliser management in a Vertisol of north-eastern Australia

Soil Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 346
Author(s):  
K. L. Page ◽  
R. C. Dalal ◽  
S. H. Reeves ◽  
W. J. Wang ◽  
Somasundaram Jayaraman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Residue Management ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Over Time

No-till (NT) farming has been widely adopted to assist in reducing erosion, lowering fuel costs, conserving soil moisture and improving soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics. Improvements in soil characteristics are often driven by the greater soil organic matter accumulation (as measured by soil organic carbon (SOC)) in NT compared to conventional tillage (CT) farming systems. However, to fully understand the effect of NT it is important to understand temporal changes in SOC by monitoring over an extended period. We investigated the long-term effect of NT and stubble retention (SR) on changes in SOC and total soil nitrogen (STN) using results from an experiment that has been running for 50 years in a semi-arid subtropical region of north-eastern Australia. In this experiment, the effects of tillage (CT vs NT), residue management (stubble burning (SB) vs SR), and nitrogen (N) fertiliser (0 and 90 kg-N ha–1) were measured in a balanced factorial experiment on a Vertisol (Ustic Pellusert). The use of NT, SR and N fertiliser generally improved SOC (by up to 12.8%) and STN stocks (by up to 31.7%) in the 0–0.1 m layer relative to CT, SB and no N fertiliser, with the greatest stocks observed where all three treatments were used in combination. However, declines in SOC (up to 20%) and STN (up to 25%) occurred in all treatments over the course of the experiment, indicating that changes in management practices were unable to prevent a loss of soil organic matter over time in this farming system. However, the NT and SR treatments did lose less SOC than CT and SB treatments, and SR also reduced STN loss. The δ13C analysis of samples collected in 2008 and 2015 highlighted that crop residues have significantly contributed to SOC stocks at the site and that their contribution is increasing over time.

scholarly journals Roots contribute more to refractory soil organic matter than above-ground crop residues, as revealed by a long-term field experiment

2011 ◽  
Vol 141 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 184-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Kätterer ◽  
Martin Anders Bolinder ◽  
Olof Andrén ◽  
Holger Kirchmann ◽  
Lorenzo Menichetti
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Field Experiment ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Term Field

scholarly journals Carbon sequestration and its dynamics in water-stable aggregates

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Šimanský ◽  
Peter Kováčik
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Fine Fraction ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Coarse Fraction ◽  
Water Stable Aggregates ◽  
Native Grassland

Abstract Sequestration of organic carbon in soils is an effective strategy to mitigate global climate change. Carbon sequestration leads to an increase in carbon stocks in soil, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions while improving soil quality and crop production. There are several published articles containing information in which the authors explain carbon sequestration in different soil types under different climatic conditions or farming systems, but on the other hand there is less information about carbon sequestration in water-stable aggregates. In field experiment, the manner in which different soil management practices influence carbon sequestration and its dynamics in water-stable aggregates was studied. We evaluated the soil samples taken from Haplic Luvisol (Dolná Malanta - Slovakia) from all treatments of tillage (conventional, minimal and grassland) and fertilisation (without fertilisation, crop residues together with NPK fertilisers and only NPK fertilisers). The maintenance of carbon concentration within soil under conventional tillage and in native grassland was due to an enhanced incorporation of new organic matter from the coarse fraction of particulate organic matter to macro-aggregates and in treatment with ploughed crop residue together with NPK fertilisers, there was besides of this caused by the reduction of carbon mineralisation from the fine fraction. Soil management practices have a significant effect on the re-distribution of soil organic matter in water-stable aggregates. In conventional and minimal tillage, very important sources of carbon sequestration are agronomical favourable size fractions of water-stable macro-aggregates and in native grassland, as well as in all fertiliser treatments, the most important source of carbon sequestration is water-stable micro-aggregates.

scholarly journals Assessing soil carbon and soil quality for sustainable agricultural systems in tropical hillslope soils using spectroscopic methods

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bunjirtluk Jintaridth
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Organic Carbon ◽  
Soil Quality ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Agricultural Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World

Soil quality is a concept that integrates physical, chemical, and biological components and processes of soil across landscapes. Identifying and developing appropriate methods to quantify and assess changes in soil quality are necessary for evaluating soil degradation and improving management practices. Many parameters that are associated with soil quality depend on soil organic matter (SOM) levels and composition. The objectives of this research were to: 1) conduct a literature review of soil quality assessment techniques to evaluate soil quality across a wide-range of environments and agricultural practices; 2) determine if some standard soil sampling and analytical protocols could be identified or developed to enhance soil quality comparisons across a wide range of environments around the world; and 3) assess the efficacy of spectroscopic-based (i.e. near-infrared, mid-infrared, and visible range) analytical methods to evaluate soil organic matter fractions and soil quality. To assess soil quality for sustainable agricultural systems in hillslope soils using spectroscopic methods, surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from hillslope agricultural sites in Bolivia, the Philippines and Indonesia which had differences in length of fallow, levels of soil degradation, and cultivation by landscape position. To determine the efficacy of spectroscopic-based on visible range, the use of the potassium permanganate test (MnOxC) for active organic carbon was studied. The MnOxC test was generally responsive to a range of fallow lengths among different agricultural fields and communities in Umala Municipality in Bolivia. A major objective of fallowing agricultural fields in this region is to restore soil fertility in the field after cropping. This general increase in MnOxC with increased length fallowing may be due to inputs of residue and roots from regrowth of native vegetation after cropping in fallowed areas and possible manure inputs from sheep that generally graze these fallow areas. In addition, higher concentrations of MnOxC were generally observed in non-degraded soil compared to that of degraded soil in all sampled communities in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Comparisons of soil quality among agroforestry and nonagroforestry sites were studied near Bogor, Indonesia. Both agroforestry and nonagroforestry sites had been managed with different types and rates (low, medium, and high) of amendments including manure, compost and chemical fertilizer. Soil MnOxC was generally higher with increasing amounts of added animal manure and in agroforestry areas compared to that of non-agroforestry areas. A set of soil samples was collected along a hill-slope transect from the top to the bottom of agricultural valley on Mindanao Island in the Philippines. The transect across the landscape was divided into summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope and toeslope landscape positions. Soil MnOxC from cultivated fields areas at each landscape position were generally lower than noncultivated areas at similar landscape positions. Among the non-cultivated sites, soil MnOxC was the highest at the summit position and the lowest at the backslope positions while soil MnOxC among cultivated sites were relatively similar across the hill-slope transect. This comparison of the use of the soil MnOxC test to determine changes in active C among a wide range of environmental conditions, cropping systems and soil management practices among agroecosystems with hillslopes in tropical countries around the world indicates that the soil MnOxC test is a sensitive indicator to assess changes in active C with changes in crop and soil management. Several advantages to using this procedure include its ease of use that requires a minimal of training for the field method, its low relative cost and growing research results that facilitate interpretation of the test results. Therefore, this method has potential for supporting management decisions, and sustainable management of agricultural systems in tropical hillslope ecosystems. The ability of visible/near-infrared (VNIR) spectroscopy to estimate soil organic carbon and carbon fractions from diverse soils in tropical hillslope agroecosystems around the world that were under different soil management and cropping systems was evaluated in this research. It was shown that VNIR spectroscopy could be an effective technique to estimate SOC and soil organic carbon fractions for a wide range of soils from tropical hillslope agroecosystems around the world. Several potential advantages of use of VNIR compared to conventional soil testing methods in developing countries are that it may allow for simultaneous evaluation of several soil properties and it can be done rapidly and possibly in the field. Diffuse Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (DRIFT) is considered to be one of the most sensitive infrared techniques for analyzing the structural composition of soil organic matter. The benefit of the DRIFT technique is the ability to characterize the functional group composition of heterogeneous materials with minimal sample preparation. Results showed that this method can be used to characterize the functional groups of heterogeneous soil organic materials and it may be a more direct method to determine changes in soil organic matter and soil quality caused by soil management practices than several other chemical and spectral techniques. The high resolution of the spectra and quantitative estimations of functional groups can be used to analyze soil organic carbon composition. Therefore, in future work this technique has great potential to be an accurate and simple method for helping to understand the changes in the composition of soil organic carbon due to soil organic management practices and to estimate changes in soil quality resulting from those practices in these hillslope agroecosystems.

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